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Used to laugh at guys quenching in oil, then a smith in Reno asked me one question
I always figured oil was a shortcut for people who did not want to learn heat control with water. For 3 years I dunked every blade in the slack tub and called it good enough. A smith named Dale at a hammer-in out in Reno watched me quench a 1084 blade, waited for the hiss to stop, and asked me what my file said on the edge. It skated, then caught, then chattered, which he said was the steel telling on me. He had me quench the next one in warm canola and the file bit clean all the way down the edge. Turns out my water quench was cooling the thin edge way faster than the spine, and I was getting hard spots on one side and soft on the other the whole time. Now I keep a pot of oil at about 120 degrees next to the forge. Anyone else get their mind changed mid-project like that?
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xena3736d ago
Sounds like Dale just sold you a new religion, but water quench done right with a fast steel like 1084 is how a lot of old timers got screaming hard edges for free. You were probably just moving too slow between the forge and the tub, not the water itself. Warm canola is forgiving, sure, but forgiving is also another word for soft.
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